The concept of institutional logics, notably a choice between multiple logics, has
been offered as a foundation to theoretically explain heterogeneity of
organisation. The thesis focuses on how this heterogeneity of organisation is
possible through a study of how decision makers deal with conflicting yet coexisting
logics in their every day work. The field chosen for the empirical study is
the recorded music industry, where two opposing logics, the artistic and the
commercial, necessarily co‐exist. Through semi‐structured interviews, decision
makers in the recorded music industry in the UK were asked about their work
processes. Their descriptions revealed two very different ways of acting based on
either the artistic logic or the commercial logic. The study further shows that
even if there were some attempts to take both logics into account, all the
respondents emphasised one logic over the other, but not the same logic, leading
to the established major/independent duality in the structure of the field.

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This thesis is about designing technology that supports and enhances learning in and
for the workplace. This is realized through an e-training system of web lectures.
Designing e-training means designing for interaction in a user friendly way while
accommodating for the pedagogical and instructional strategies that are inherent in
learning systems. The objective of this thesis is to inform how technology can be
designed to support workplace training by acknowledging the context demands of
every day work. The context for this thesis is the government authority in Sweden
called the county administration. The research in this thesis follows the approach of
design science research and design principles for e-training through web lectures
emerged in collaboration with members of the county administration through four
design cycles of problem awareness: conceptual suggestion, system development,
and evaluation.
The perspective on learning adopts that of socio-cultural learning since it
acknowledges the importance of context by stressing the relationship between
learning and the context in which the learning occurs. A framework called authentic
e-learning with nine core design principles was chosen as a kernel theory. The first
version of the web lecture application was based on the unchanged design principles
of authentic e-learning. The design principles were then evaluated in the context of
a work place and after four design cycles some of the original design principles was
still unaltered, some was adapted to the conditions of work place learning and new
principles emerged from the evaluation process. The thesis concludes with eight
design principles for e-training through web lectures.

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A closer look on the role of design choices in framing coordination and motivation

Gevoll, Linn(Frederiksberg, 2015)

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The motivation of this study was to explore how the design choices created when
developing Performance Management (hereafter PM), produces proposals of how to
coordinate and motivate operational employees in performing their tasks, and to
which extent they are successful in doing so. PM is often postulated as a management
resource in organizing employee contribution to value creation. Here, it is often
suggested that carefully designed PM promotes organizational value creation, by
facilitating the motivation and coordination of employees’ contribution. However, the
way in which design choices function to suggest how to define the boundaries of what
it means to coordinate and motivate employees in practice is less clear.
I therefore set out to study the different design choices made on three central elements
in a new operational Performance Management System (PMS hereafter), to explore
how these design choices propose ideas of how to coordinate and motivate
employees’ value creation in daily operations. My study follow the design choices
made with regard to leading indicators (e.g. performance measures), performance
targets and feedback over a period of three years (2012-2014). I do so, to investigate
how design choices made on these three elements play a significant role in assigning
specific property to what motivation and coordination of operational employees
entails in practice. For example, the study illustrate how the choice to design leading
indicators as key behavioral indicators (KBIs hereafter) propose that coordination of
employees contribution means to point out what they should do when performing key
activities. Detailed accounts such as this, provides rich insight into how design
choices suggest distinctive, meaning to how to coordinate and/or motivate employees
in their daily operations, which produce the boundaries of desired action.

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Empirical studies show that only a small number of all innovations created are valuable
innovations. In spite of this, most innovation research focuses on identifying the
determinants of innovation, rather than determining the factors influential in generating
valuable innovations. The current knowledge therefore can guide organizations to
increase innovation output, but not to increase the value of the innovation output.
The purpose of this PhD research is to contribute to our understanding of
the determinants of valuable innovations by investigating how different intraorganizational
factors and uncertainty influence organizations’ abilities to generate
valuable innovations. This thesis is comprised of four papers, a general introduction and
a conclusion. The papers rely on both qualitative and quantitative research methods. One
builds on interview data gathered at a Danish university and a firm, one relies on data
from the Scandinavian biotech industry, and two papers rely on data from the global
hydrocracking industry.

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The role of the lawyer is in transition and the formerly predominantly homogeneous profes-sion has become a heterogeneous group of lawyers with diverging perceptions of the lawyer’s identity and of the main characteristics of the profession. The European Union has extended the perception of democracy and the fundamental rights to include more collective rights, social concerns, global responsibility and sustainability.
The dissertation’s main question is: How can the identity and competences of lawyers be developed so that they can practise sustainable and proactive lawyering in the European Union?
Theoretically as well as methodologically this research constitutes an interdisciplinary study, where legal science meets sociology and social learning theories. Identity development is perceived as a reflective project; there is a range of lifestyle choices which contribute to a composed but constantly shifting maintenance of self-identity in relation to democratic principles and the ideal of justice connected to the role of lawyers. The study builds on Anthony Giddens’s structuration theory. This involves looking at how lawyers connect the questions ‘What to do?’ (societal level) and ‘How to act?’ (professional level) with ’Who to be?’ (personal level).
The study depicts a European identity ideal based on legal sources while empirical data from focus groups and individual interviews makes it possible to identify six different identities among Danish practising lawyers. It is possible to recognise the following identities: lawyer-businessman, lawyer-performer, lawyer-entrepreneur, lawyer-humanist, lawyer-integrator and lawyer-statesman.
The fragmentation of the profession, with greater demand for specialist knowledge, in-creased individualisation and participation in new communities of practice, requires each lawyer to reflect on their identity and establish criteria for what, when and how they will use their lawyering skills. For this to succeed, lawyers’ identities and competences will depend more on self-directed learning and individual learning plans, where the legal identity combines (global) societal responsibility with job satisfaction, authenticity and adherence to personal values.

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There is a story about two companies, and how the one was supported and dominated by the other. Even today, more than 13 years after their separation, the support and domination of one company over the other seems to continue. In 2001 NNE (Novo Nordisk Engineering A/S), celebrated its tenth anniversary as an independent affiliate within the Novo Group. The anniversary was celebrated with a huge party at the Øksnehallen Exhibition Centre located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here NNE launched its new Corporate Visual Identity (CVI). The CVI was created in order for NNE to show the world that it strived to become the market leader in the growing fields of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Equally important, NNE wanted to detach itself from its supporter and dominator, the company Novo Nordisk A/S. To begin with, NNE changed its name from Novo Nordisk Engineering A/S to NNE; secondly it created a new logo; and last, as a brand promise, it stated: Unique Know How. In fact, NNE changed all of its visual identity (i.e. CVI) in a manner like that of pirates who want to change identity by raising another flag on the mast before anchoring at a harbor.

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This thesis explores the history of humanitarian organizations as agents in public life. When taking on the role as mediators between Western publics and distant sufferers, what conception of social responsibility do humanitarian organizations promote? What are the consequences of the institutional context of these organizations on the form of social responsibility that they are able to promote? In a historical perspective, what changes in these conceptualizations can we observe and to what extent can we understand them as resulting from institutional changes? These questions are asked with the assumption that the discourse of humanitarian organizations is at once a reflection of and a force in the configuration of dispositions in target publics. Enquiring about the history of humanitarian organizations as agents in public life, thus, means enquiring about the ways in which over the past 40 years, these organizations have given meaning to our relation to different sufferers and contributed to shaping our individual and collective conception of the scope and nature of our social responsibility....

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The co-location of industry in agglomerations of similar and related firms is one of
the salient features of the contemporary global economy. Over the last thirty years, a
large body of theory and case-literature has addressed this phenomenon and sought to
understand the advantages that accrue when industries are spatially clustered.
Contemporary scholars in this tradition have focused on the advantages of face-toface
interaction and the access to spatially sticky information in the form of buzz
available to cluster agents. They have further suggested that the development of local
conventions and a local idiom facilitate knowledge circulation and collaboration
within clusters while perhaps frustrating access to outsiders. The resultant learning
views of agglomeration have become dominant within the field of economic
geography.
In the past decade, however, this dominant view has been challenged by a
counterview challenging the idea that physical proximity is neither necessary nor
sufficient for economic learning. First, it has been noted that much of the learning that
occurs in clusters may actually be organized through various forms temporary
proximity. Secondly, it has been argued that knowledge circulates not by virtue of
spatial proximity, but through participation in knowledge communities that share a
basic epistemological framework and common purpose. These communities may be
spatially clustered or may be widely dispersed.
The research presented in this dissertation aims to contribute to this debate on the
relative importance of physical and relational proximity to processes of economic
learning. It does so through a qualitative study of the European Animation Industry
and its attempt to build supportive networks and institutions resembling those found
in successful geographic clusters, but in the context of a spatially dispersed industry.
It demonstrates how through the extensive use of temporary proximity in the form of
conferences, market places, and workshops, European animation was able to create a
dense social fabric supporting learning and collaboration among firms that were both
geographically and culturally distant. The dissertation is developed in three distinct articles written for journal publication.
These are followed by Appendix One discussing methodological issue related to the
research, Appendix Two providing empirical introduction to European Animation, the
object of the dissertation’s case study. They are followed by a brief conclusion
discussing the dissertations findings.

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Analysis of the influence of the Chicago School on European Union competition policy

Bartalevich, Dzmitry(Frederiksberg, 2017)

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Adopting the (institutionalist) premise that ideas and the economic theories within which they are embedded
influence policy, the dissertation investigates the influence of the Chicago School of antitrust analysis on the
competition policy of the European Union (EU). The dissertation encapsulates three articles. The first article
employs qualitative content analysis to assess whether and the extent to which the European Commission
incorporates Chicago School theory into EU competition policy. It does so on the basis of current Commission
Guidelines, Notices, and Block Exemption Regulations that address EU antitrust rules and EU merger control.
The second article is exploratory; it narrows the focus on EU merger control and employs descriptive network
analysis to investigate the overall composition of mergers cleared by the Commission during the period 2004–
2015 and attempts to reinforce the results of the analysis in the first article. The third article expands on the
findings of the first and second articles and employs inferential network analysis with exponential random graph
models to analyze, on the basis of Commission merger cases cleared during the period 2004–2015, whether the
Harvard School, the Freiburg School, and considerations for Single Market integration underpin EU merger
control, in addition to the influence of the Chicago School. The analysis presented in the articles suggests that the
Chicago School has exerted considerable influence over EU competition policy. The findings further indicate that
there is a strong presence of financial institutions among merger and acquisition transactions with an EU
dimension in EU merger control. Finally, the findings show that the Commission appears to have a particular
approach to EU competition policy that, despite being influenced by the Chicago School, cannot be explained
entirely by it.

Integration across departments, functions, and knowledge areas is important for success in the process of product innovation. Research of organizations, whether private or public, demonstrates, however, that cross functional integration is difficult to achieve in praxis. This problem area: Why is cross functional integration – in SMEs – in the process of product innovation so difficult in praxis? – sets up the foundation for this PhD. By focusing on cross functional integration in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and by utilizing a qualitative research design in studies of the micro politics of cross functional integration, the PhD makes a novel contribution within an area of research largely overlooked by previous literatures....

This PhD thesis is an outcome of the author’s own reflections and efforts to come to terms with
his experience working as the National Project Coordinator of the Industrial Cluster
Development Program of an international donor agency in Pakistan, the IDA, for more than 8
years between 2001 and 2009. Thus, the author seeks to answer two interrelated questions in this
thesis:
a) How did the IDA interventions affect SME networks in the Lahore garments and Sialkot
football clusters in Pakistan?
b) Why did the IDA-supported SME networks in these clusters continue or discontinue after
the IDA withdrew from both clusters?
In this thesis, it is argued that a very limited number of empirical studies have addressed the
subject of private sector development aid in industrial clusters in developing countries. In
particular, very few studies aim at studying the sustainability of donor-financed interventions in
industrial clusters in the Global South. Two articles in the thesis are dedicated to extending the
very limited existing work on this topic. Both articles – the first on the Lahore garments cluster
and the second on the Sialkot football manufacturing cluster in Pakistan – seek to analyze how
the IDA’s interventions affected the long-term sustainability of SME networks present in both
clusters. In the case of the Lahore garments cluster, the IDA supported two networks in the
cluster. One was known as the Lahore Garments Consortium and the other was named the
Lahore Fashion Apparel Network. Both IDA financed networks initially seemed to flourish as
they engaged in information sharing and joint action initiatives such as the joint procurement of
raw materials for their production units. In the final analysis, it turned out however that the
Lahore Garments Consortium continued to function long after the IDA had discontinued its
support to the cluster whereas the Lahore Fashion Apparel Network was terminated after a very
brief period in existence.

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In recent years, we have witnessed multinational enterprises (MNEs) changing strategies to exploit opportunities for division of labor on a global scale (Hansen et al. 2009). In consequence these have received growing interest among researchers and governments as ‘agents of host country economic development’ (Scott-Kennel and Enderwick 2005, p.105). A general consensus of this research is that ‘FDI [Foreign Direct Investment] offers an additional channel for introduction of technology, innovation, new ideas, different organizational practices and new skills to a host country’ (Scott-Kennel and Enderwick 2005, p.112). Another consensus is that these knowledge resources were introduced into the host country through linkages between the MNEs and a local firm and would in the longer term diffuse to other firms through e.g. demonstration effects and labor turnover (Giroud and Scott-Kennel 2009)....

In the public sector, we find that traditional face-to-face interaction has, in many
cases, been replaced by online communication and transactions during the last
decade. The quality of public sector websites is, therefore, of particular importance
in order to ensure quality participation in an increasingly digital society by all the
citizens. In view of the fact that Norway and Denmark aim to be world leaders of
the Web, with regard to innovations, technical standards and user-centred
development, easily accessible facilitation for high quality interactions assumes
considerable significance. With reference to this particular aspect, the following
Ph.D. thesis focusses on perceptions and measurement of website quality and
success, by emphasising and highlighting the performance of public sector
websites in the Scandinavian countries (respectively Norway and Denmark).
This thesis draws on both qualitative and quantitative data collected during the
research process. A grounded theory approach is applied in order to investigate
explanations of website quality and statistical analysis is performed to examine
perceptions of quality and success in websites. In this regard, the webmasters’
perspectives are emphasised, as they are found to be pivotal figures and key
contributors in website quality improvements. Website quality criteria, obligated
by the central governments are also discussed. These criteria aim to minimise a
gap between the governments and the citizens for provision of online information
and digital services.
The findings and explanations of website quality cover a variety of features and
range from technical standards to a broad definition of usability. Pertaining to this
fact, added emphasis is placed on actual usage and subjective issues concerning
user-friendliness and ease of use, compared to the criteria implemented by the governments, which focus more on objective technical measures. This may
explain why users are not actually satisfied with high quality websites, when
compared to low quality websites, in an annual assessment of hundreds of public
websites based on these criteria. Accordingly, explanations and measurements of
quality within the public sector are perceived differently, when taking into account
the citizens’ (users’) needs and requirements from websites. Based on the use of
quality criteria and evaluation methods applied to such evaluations, there exists a
potential argument for adopting an additional user-centred focus.
Furthermore, user satisfaction is emphasised as a measure of success in websites
and user-centred development is found to be a key contributor. In view of this fact,
the findings also prove that the public sector in general should improve and extend
their feedback channels, by extending frequency and methods applied in user
testing and continuous quality improvements. The fact that government bodies
perform testing to a minimal extent and that more sophisticated methods should be
included, demonstrates a potential for advances in facilitation for improved and
refined user experiences in online communication between citizens and the public
sector. In this regard, organisations which perform user testing tend to see a
stronger correlation between website quality, user satisfaction and net (user)
benefits.
The concluding observations in the thesis, suggest that further research can
decrease a gap between the governments’ perceptions of quality, and the citizens’
needs and requirements from public websites. Future investments and quality
improvements should devote increased attention to testing and issues concerning
inclusion of real users, and the benefits of such actions. Implications for practice
are also provided in order to move the sector forward and facilitation for improved
and refined user experiences and success on the Web.

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The Global Financial Crisis which started in 2007 is a defining economic event of our lifetime.
Recessions and public bailouts of banking systems have resulted in concerns about
the solvency of sovereigns in recent years as many Eurozone countries face substantial
fiscal pressures. The exact causes of the Global Financial Crisis are still debated but it is
unlikely to be the outcome of one single event. In a review of the Global Financial Crisis
based on 21 books on the topic, Lo (2011) summarises the underlying causes and policy
prescriptions: ”there is still significant disagreement as to what the underlying causes of
the crisis were, and even less agreement as to what to do about it ... Like World War
II, no single account of this vast and complicated calamity is sufficient to describe it.”
The listed causes range from global capital flows, poor regulation, regulatory capture,
inequality, high leverage, skewed economic incentives of borrowers and lenders, etc. Gorton
and Metrick (2012) also contain an interesting summary of the literature written in
recent years and in ”Lessons from the Financial Crisis” edited by Berd (2010) several
chapters from academic researchers analyse the ongoing crisis.

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“How can we understand the dynamics of procurement management?” An answer to this question has
predominantly been explained by procurement management experiencing dissatisfaction with the
status quo, where the procurement organisation was viewed from other entities in the company as an
insignificant, reactive and an administrative part of the business. The potential, however, for the
procurement organisation to be significant in the company was argued to be vast (Ammer 1989,
Ellram & Carr 1994, Van Weele 2005). In order to change the situation of the procurement
organisation, procurement management was informed that they should in gradual steps develop the
procurement organisation towards more sophistication and significance (Reck & Long 1988)
producing strategies that were aligned with the overall company strategy including the development
of policies, procedures, systems, tools and processes (Cousins 2002, Cousins et al 2008). This process
changed the perspective of the procurement organisation which among other things, allowed the
procurement entity to contribute to the implementation of the concept of supply chain management
(Freeman & Cavinato 1990). Ever since I first got familiar with the practices of procurement and its
management, I have been puzzled by its complexity. At the same time, I have wondered about how
the same space of complexity in the procurement management domain literature has explained the
same practices by reductionism, smoothness and simplicity as just described.

The central focus of this thesis is the identification of theory-consistent economic determinants
of aggregate and sectoral domestic investment in the context of the oil-rich and oil-based
economy of Iran within the theoretical framework of modified neoclassical-accelerator type
investment models. This thesis further attempts to extend this theoretically consistent framework
by incorporating oil-driven financial constraint measures such as specified by cash flow models.
The latter is justified on the basis of the presence of imperfect capital markets in Iran and the
inherent uncertainty associated with the availability of oil-driven finance for investment due to
the unpredictable nature of oil prices. A CVAR method is being employed to determine the
theory-consistent long-run relationships between the variables of interest during 1974-2011.
Motivated by the existing gaps in the investment and natural resource curse literature, the main
objectives of the thesis include investigating: (i) the extent to which the theoretical framework is
able to explain investment in the Iranian context and the underlying reasons for the (expected)
partial applicability of such a framework; (ii) the relation between oil and investment patterns;
and (iii) sectoral shifts during the process of capital accumulation and the role of the state in this
process. Hence, the findings of this thesis contribute to current debates in the literature on the
economics of natural resources and on investment, as well as to the application of the
investment literature in the context of oil-abundant and -dependent economies like Iran.
The empirical results, interestingly, showed that aggregate investment largely corresponds to
factors which lie within the above theoretical framework. Notably, such a framework made it
possible to make inferences and to draw policy implications based on the theoretically motivated
long-run relationships between economic determinants of investment. It further allowed
exploring how well such a framework, in the context of partial-market oil-driven economies like
Iran, was applicable with some modifications that were needed to make the framework more
appropriate for such economies.

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A Study of the Role of Managerial Meta-Knowledge in the Management of Distributed Knowledge

Jensen, Henrik(Frederiksberg, 2016)

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When companies depend on knowledge distributed among employees, managers play a key role in
establishing cooperation and coordination systems. This dissertation investigates the implications of
managers’ knowledge about the knowledge and skills of employees for economic organization. The
research question guiding this effort is: What managerial challenges arise from having distributed
knowledge within a firm and how does the manager’s knowledge of this knowledge matter for
economic organization?
The dissertation consists of three research papers, each exploring a dimension of the research
question. The first paper investigates antecedents of coordination break-down and how teams differ
in their ability to coordinate specialized knowledge and skills. The second paper provides a theoretical
framework for theorizing about the role of managers’ knowledge about employees’ knowledge for
economic organization and introduces the term managerial meta-knowledge. The third paper
investigates the effect of managerial meta-knowledge on the successfulness of inter-organizational
relations. Empirically, the dissertation is based on a dataset on public procurement projects,
comprised of archival data, a survey of buyers and a survey of suppliers.
Together, the three papers argue that managers’ knowledge about employees’ knowledge is
an important factor when managing the challenges of distributed knowledge. Such managerial
knowledge allows managers to assess the capabilities available, make sure they fit contractual
obligations, and rearrange tasks and employees when adapting to changes.